The present invention is related to a method for continuously processing organic material which ferments and composts effectively and continuously organic matter such as left over food or raw food waste and an apparatus for conducting the same method.
Conventionally, a variety of food waste processing apparatus which compost raw food waste are known; thus, a small size apparatus for home use which is open at the bottom part and buried in the grounds, to which fermenting germ is added to ferment raw food waste by the germ, a middle size apparatus which has crushing /stirring apparatus inside thereof, or a large size apparatus for industrial use which has independent crushing apparatus, stirring apparatus and fermenting tank. However, the small size apparatus of the prior raw food waste processing apparatus has only a small processing ability and can fail to ferment caused by lack of temperature, and has a shortcoming of resulting in decomposition and infesting maggots. The middle size one has necessity for the capacity of the fermenting tank to become five to ten times bigger than its processing ability of raw food waste which yields everyday. It also has a shortcoming of insufficient fermentation caused by additionally supplying raw food waste into the fermenting tank. Such supplying is usually conducted without taking account of microorganism's activation inside of the fermenting tank. Further, the large size one has a shortcoming of necessity of man management which results in high facility and maintenance costs.
Accordingly, for example, business facilities yielding a huge amount of raw food waste such as meal supplying center and restaurants have a problem of too much burden for self-processing by establishing such large size raw food waste processing apparatus. So, these business facilities generally rely on specialized processing traders or collection of hog raisers who use the waste to feed pigs.
But recently, less leftover food is used to feed pigs, and hog raisers themselves are decreased in large numbers. With the decrease of these collecting traders, it has been more and more difficult to proceed raw food waste fast, and moreover new problems related to processing raw food waste have emerged.
For example, when raw food waste is incinerated, many problems occur. For example, a problem of dregs after the incineration, an offensive odor at incinerator and its surrounding areas, a problem of environment contamination such as flies and smoke, and a social problem promoting production of dioxin, a poisonous substance because raw food waste prevents temperature from rising in incinerator.
The aim of the present invention is to solve these problems of the prior raw food waste processing apparatus. Further, it is to provide a method for continuously processing organic material and an apparatus for conducting the same method in which steps from crushing organic material such as raw food waste to composting are automated and continuously proceeded in the best fermentation conditions without interruption. With the invention, more processing ability than capacity of fermenting tank can be obtained, facility and running costs dramatically decreases, and it is capable of being adopted from small size to large size ones.